The country witnessed 39,726 new COVID infections being recorded in a day, the biggest single-day surge reported so far this year, bringing the national coronavirus tally of cases to 1,15,14,331, according to data updated on Friday by the Union Health Ministry.
This daily growth in infections happened to be the biggest recorded in 110 days, whereas the loss of lives rose to 1,59,370 including 154 daily new deaths, the data refreshed at 8 am revealed.
Recording a rise for the ninth day in a row, the cumulative active caseload has touched 2,71,282, which presently constitutes 2.36 percent of the total infections, while the recovery rate has further declined to 96.26 percent, the reports said.
As many as 41,810 new infections were reported in 24 hours on November 29.
The number of people who have recovered from coronavirus rose to 1,10,83,679, whereas the case fatality stands at 1.38 percent, the information stated.
India’s COVID-19 tally had crossed the 20-lakh mark on August 7, 30 lakh on August 23, 40 lakh on September 5, and 50 lakh on September 16. It went past 60 lakh on September 28, 70 lakh on October 11, crossed 80 lakh on October 29, 90 lakh on November 20, and exceeded the one-crore mark on December 19.
According to ICMR, 23,13,70,546 samples have been tested up to March 18 with 10,57,383 samples being tested on Thursday.
The 154 new fatalities include 58 from Maharashtra, 32 from Punjab, and 15 from Kerala.
A total of 1,59,370 deaths have been reported so far in the country including 53,138 from Maharashtra, 12,573 from Tamil Nadu, 12,415 from Karnataka, 10,949 from Delhi, 10,300 from West Bengal, 8,753 from Uttar Pradesh, and 7,186 from Andhra Pradesh.
The Health Ministry stressed that more than 70 percent of the deaths occurred due to comorbidities.
“Our figures are being reconciled with the Indian Council of Medical Research,” the ministry said on its website, adding that state-wise distribution of figures is subject to further verification and reconciliation.
